Search This Blog

Chinese firm to invest in UK housing projects

A Chinese firm plans to provide investment to launch three housing projects in northern England, the UK Treasury said on Wednesday as Chancellor George Osborne toured China to boost business ties.

Hualing Industry and Trade Group, based in China's Xinjiang region, intends to invest 60 million pounds to kick off the three projects in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield which will have a final gross value of 1.2 billion pounds. Xinjiang Hualing Industry amp; Trade (Group) Co., Ltd. provides distribution and trading services for building material. The company was founded in 1988.

The ministry said the projects, led by Britain's Scarborough Group [SG], are expected to deliver 10,000 new homes, part of the government's efforts to spur development in northern England which has lagged growth in London and the Southeast .The SG was Founded by Kevin McCabe in 1980, Scarborough Group International has grown from a UK based real estate developer and investor into a global organisation, focussing predominantly on real estate with other past and present business interests in Europe, North America, Myanmar, Australia, Hong Kong, India, China and the United Kingdom.Scarborough is now in its fourth decade of business, having developed into a global group with a diverse portfolio. We have a comprehensive investment portfolio which encompasses all aspects of real estate, interests in leisure -most notably a 50% stake in Sheffield United Football Club - as well as additional investments in a number of other sectors.In Sheffield, Hualing is investing in the city’s Digital Campus, a £40m commercial and office development, with 130,000 sqft of office space. “For Scarborough, this is the latest chapter in a long history in China, spanning over 13 years, during which time we have established strong relationships with local partners as the foundation for significant investments in China and the Far East. “As a family business with its roots in the north of England, we are now very proud to bring our partners in China to the UK.”Scarborough chairman Kevin McCabeLast month, Legal & General said it was investing £162m in the Leeds scheme Thorpe Park – a £400m regeneration project.The UK insurer, which plans to invest £1.5bn in UK regeneration projects, took a 50% stake in Thorpe Park Leeds, a 200-acre mixed-use business development site.Scarborough Group has planning consent to build 60,000 sq ft of offices and 300 homes during a second, five-year development phase on the site.L&G’s deal was the first since the start of the UK government’s Regeneration Investment Organisation partnership, launched earlier this year.In Manchester, Hualing is investing in Scarborough Group’s Middlewood Locks, a £730m residential and commercial project.Last year, two Asian property developers committed to two Scarborough Group residential schemes worth £600m in Manchester, their first investments in the UK.Hong Kong-based developer Top Spring International and Singapore’s Metro Holdings took equal stakes in the joint venture.

Kevin McCabe Founder of Scarborogh Group on 125th celebrations of Sheffield United FC

Osborne said he was aiming to make China the second-biggest trading partner of Britain by 2025, compared with its number-six ranking now.Earlier this week, Britain and China announced initiatives including an expanded currency swap agreement, Chinese investment in British nuclear power and a study for a scheme to connect the London and Shanghai stock markets.Osborne also announced 10 million pounds in extra funding to enable thousands more British schoolchildren to learn Mandarin by 2020.There is an enormous opportunity."Next month the president of China will come on a state visit to Britain, the first such visit by a Chinese president in a decade.And he will travel to London, but he will travel beyond London as well.It’s an opportunity to showcase the best of Britain and to showcase our relationship with China, with different countries with different histories. We have different political systems, we know that.

But we’re also two countries which I think have done more to shape the culture of the world than perhaps any other two nations on earth.So let’s work together, let’s invest again and let’s help create jobs and prosperity in each other’s countries and in particular, work with us to make a reality of the Northern powerhouse."Rt Honourable George Osborne MP Chancellor of the Exchequer